Terrible Things
by Ode to a Fangirl
Summary: Jack sat with his legs crossed on the grass. It was a crisp day with the changing leaves fluttering down. "I'm going to tell you a story, okay?" He got no response, but that didn't faze him. He was used to it by now. Modern AU one-shot inspired by the song Terrible Things by Mayday Parade.


Jack sat with his legs crossed on the grass. It was a crisp day with the changing leaves fluttering down.

"I'm going to tell you a story, okay?"

He got no response, but that didn't faze him. He was used to it by now.

"I'm going to tell you a story about a girl."

…

I was never really the "cool" kid, more of the outcast that hung around the edges, hoping, praying that someone would notice. And not just any old someone but someone to spend the rest of my life with, you know?

I had dated a few girls, none of it had ever worked out.

It usually happened something like this: girl would find interest in me for whatever reason. I always got to an awkward stalker level because I would think hey, this girl might like me. Might as well find out everything about her. Soon, she would break it off, give me the standard it's not you it's me, but I knew better.

But one day, everything changed. I was at the library, shocker I know. What on earth would I be doing at the library? To be honest, I'm not sure why I went. I think I was bored, not that that should be the only reason to go to a library, but whatever.

I was looking through the young adult section. Nothing really caught my eye until I saw a girl. She wasn't like any girl I had ever seen before. Her blonde hair was long and shiny, I really wanted to pet it. She wore a baggy sweatshirt with the name of some obscure sports team on it, and in her arms was a huge stack of books.

While I was looking at her, she glanced up from the book she was reading the back cover of and smiled at me. A quick smile that included a little bit of a blush that was ended when she ducked her head down back to her book.

I kept glancing over at her. It was a bit awkward for me because she kept catching my gaze, but I couldn't stop watching her. The way she would run her hand along the spines, her finger stopping on a certain book and pulling it out.

Or the way that she would tuck her hair behind her ear while she concentrated on reading the inside flaps of books or the back covers.

And how she would sometimes stop uncertainly before adding another book to her large stack.

She was beautiful in every sense of the word.

I started to also browse through the books, sneaking looks at her out of the corner of my eyes. I realized that on a scale of one to ten on a creeper level, I was probably a twenty five and a half. I didn't care. Is that a bad thing? I don't know.

While I was oh so casually looking at different books that I had no idea about, she walked up to me. While she walked up to me, I was freaking out on the inside. I was surprised by what she said.

"So, um, hi," she said nervously.

"Hey," I said, leaning back against a shelf. I had thought that maybe it would make me look cool but instead it resulted in some random bestsellers to get knocked off the shelf.

"Oh goodness," she said quietly, stooping to help me pick all of them up.

While we picked them up, I'm not saying that I purposely brushed my hand against hers, I'm just saying that there were a few times when I picked up a book near her, and there may have been accidental contact. Maybe.

Once we had finished picking them all up, I decided wisely to not lean against the shelf, but instead just to deal with the fact that I will never look as "cool" as I had striven to be.

"I'm Rapunzel," she said, setting her own stack of books on the floor beside her.

"That's a nice name. I'm Jack."

"How much would you mind if I said something I noticed about you?" she asked, rubbing her hands together nervously.

I crossed my fingers that she wasn't going to say something about how I was a creep and smiled at her. "Yeah, sure."

"So, I've been here for a while and I noticed you, not in a weird way. I also noticed you noticing me. Can I tell you a wonderful thing?" She took a deep breath in, her words getting faster. "Maybe I'm just a young and naive girl who knows nothing of the world, but I believe that maybe, maybe that you might be in like with me, I know this is probably the wrong time for me to say this, but I can see it in your eyes and I might possibly maybe like you back a little. And I know this is probably the most cliche thing ever, lo-like at first sight, but who says it isn't possible?"

I stared at her, speechless.

When I didn't say anything right away, she started rambling on how on how she shouldn't have said anything and that it really was just her being her "stupid, over romanticizing self" and that she really should be getting along. She didn't even bother to grab her books as she did an awkward walk/run out of the library.

I stood unmoving until my brain caught up. I couldn't just let her leave! I started to jog out the door after her, ignoring the reprimand from the grumpy, old librarian.

When I pushed open the door to get outside, I spotted her speed walking away. I ran, flat out sprinted towards her.

Finally I caught up to her. "Wait just one second," I panted, putting my hands on my knees to catch my breath.

She looked at me funny, maybe embarrassed by what she had said or something, I don't know.

"Rapunzel, what you said in the library...I felt the same way," I said, not even sure what else to say.

"No way!" she exclaimed, hopping up and down.

"Yes way. Everything you said, it made sense."

"I can't believe it...I never even dreamed something like this would ever happen."

And so it began. We hung out almost daily for a few years. We discussed books, food, thoughts, movies, pictures, opinions, anything and everything you could think of.

She was unlike anyone I had ever met. She was creative, thoughtful, gorgeous, everything...she was my everything.

She was excited about anything that anyone would tell her about. Someone could go on for hours about nothing, and she would think it was terribly interesting.

We would waste time together...no, not waste time. There was never a moment wasted with her. Even if we were doing absolutely nothing, not one single minute did we ever complain we were bored. What was there to be bored with when you were with the love of your life?

One of her favorite things to do would be to walk down the sidewalks of town when the lights were all on. They would cast a yellowish light on the sidewalk. It was as if it was a whole different town at night, one where there was no problems, just an aura of mystery. We would walk past random stores that you never would've thought existed.

Doing it made you feel unique, almost like there was a bubble of contentment surrounding you.

It was at times like this that I learned much about her. Like the fact that she memorized some of her favorite quotes. She would rattle off a paragraph from some book she read, and I would be in complete awe of her. The passion she had when she said the quotes, the discussion about it that usually followed. Very rarely did we not express our opinions on the quotes. The rare moments when we wouldn't would be when the words spoke for themselves, there was nothing else to say to describe the moment.

One of our favorite things to say to each other was how it was a wonderful thing that we had met. That if that day at the library wouldn't have happened, we would've wandered through life, searching for a soul mate that would've been just as miserable. Kind of like the Missing Piece by Shel Silverstien.

Now to tell you about the next part of the story. The sun was setting and we had driven out to a place where we could see it go down perfectly.

We had laid some blankets down and sat on them, basking in the warm sun.

She had closed her eyes, letting the rays soak into her skin, a small smile playing on her lips. Gah, she was beautiful.

It was time. I reached over and tugged lightly on her hair. She opened her eyes and punched me in the arm.

She watched me in confusion as I shifted myself so that I was balancing on one knee. I pulled a ring out from my pocket. "Rapunzel, I love you. I've loved you from the day I met you when we were at the library, remember that time? You are the most wonderful thing to ever happen to me. Will you marry me?"

She smiled, happy tears filling her eyes. "I do think that would be a wonderful thing."

I placed the ring on her finger, enjoying seeing her happiness.

That day, we didn't just stay there for the sunset. No, we watched the stars come peeking out, some of them streaking across the sky.

We talked about the wedding, we talked about when we first met, and sometimes we would just lay on the blanket, clasping hands, not needing to say anything at all.

After this, it was like we walked on a cloud of pure bliss. Nothing could affect us, we were gliding along in our own little world of perfect.

And then one day, every thing changed. It started out a normal day, nothing out of the ordinary. I was just at home, working on some random stuff around the house.

While I cleaned up and such, I found some of the plans for the wedding that we had worked on left on the table. I picked them up and smiled. Planning the wedding was one of my favorite things to do, as weird as that sounds. I loved to think of when we would be married, and I know that Rapunzel did too.

I put them away and continued on with my odd jobs.

There was a knock at the door. I didn't know who was coming. I figured if it was Rapunzel, she would've texted me or something.

But I was wrong. I pulled open the door and there she stood.

"Can I come in?" she asked, not quite looking me in the eye.

I nodded and put my arm around her shoulder and led her to the couch, closing the door behind her. I pushed some of the wedding stuff off the couch to make room for us to sit.

I took her hands in mine, worried about what she was going to say. She wasn't acting like herself, and that scared me.

"Rapunzel...are you okay? Is everything all right?"

"Jack...I need to tell you a terrible thing."

It felt like a jolt went through my body. A terrible thing? This couldn't be true. Nothing terrible could ever happen to her...no. "What is it?" I said quietly, almost as if talking loudly would break her, or break my heart. Whichever came first.

She took a deep breath in. Then another. Whatever she was going to say...it was going to be hard. "I went to the doctor today." Another deep breath. "I'm sick...I'm going to...die in a week."

I felt numb. No, this wasn't happening. Nonononono. Tears started to roll down my cheek, and I did nothing to stop them, I hardly even noticed them. I opened my mouth to say something, but she put a finger on my lips, silencing me. She had more to say.

"Jack, don't be sad." Another deep breath, her voice trembling. "No, think of all the good times. I believe that you are the greatest, most wonderful thing that ever happened to me." She finally broke down, her words hard to discern from her sobs. "Don't ever think...don't you ever dare think that this, that we were a mistake. You're the greatest thing that ever happened to me, Jack. Don't let this terrible thing take away your happiness."

I guess you know how the rest of the story goes. I spent every day with her, and true to the doctor's words, she died within the week.

She went peacefully, while she was sleeping actually. Every time before she would take a nap or go to sleep she remind me of some of the wonderful things we did together. Every single time she would find something different to say. Maybe she was scared that she would die without saying 'I love you', because I know I was.

It was amazing, that even in her last days, she still wasn't thinking of herself.

I miss her. She was everything to me, she was perfect.

Why is life so unfair? Why did she die? What did she do to deserve that?

It's been a while now. How long it's been, I'm unsure. Am I supposed to know? I'm doing everything I can to not remember, not to let my past overtake me, but it's hard. I drag my feet through every day, nothing to look forward to.

I don't know how I'm going to keep going on. How do people do it? It's not like you can pretend nothing happened. So many people with their condolences, sympathetic smiles...do they understand how much this actually hurts? It's like every morning I wake up just to have Life smack me in face with a sharp reminder that things that were will never be.

There are still little things all around the house. Her books, her piles of laundry, wedding plans, her notebook of quotes. I don't have the heart to move them out of sight or to get rid of them. How could I? Even with how painful it is, I can't erase her. Even though it might not be "erasing" her, that's what it would feel like to me.

Wonderful things...terrible things, I guess that's what life is made up of, but who knew that the terrible things would be so hard?

…

Jack sat, not wanting to finish the story. Tears were making their way down his cheek, and his eyes were still filled.

This next part was always the hardest. It made him have to come back to the present and not to just live in his memories, because sometimes...sometimes it was easier to relive the past than to go on with life.

He reached out and put his hand on the cold, gray stone. "I still love you," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

And now for the worst part. He stood slowly, prolonging as long as he could. He wiped the leaves off his jeans, straightened his jacket, wiped the tears out of his eyes as best as he could and took a shaky breath in. "Good-bye."

He turned his back and walked away. His shoulders were shaking with a round of fresh sobs. His vision was blurred by tears which would be dangerous if he didn't have the path memorized. Before he was completely out of the gates, he glanced back and choked out, "I'll be back soon, don't worry."

…

Others who would visit the cemetery would often see Jack come and go. Nobody was ever brave enough to talk to him, but some of the people were more curious than others. They would wait until he left and then go to where he would come to all the time.

There they would see a gravestone much like the others. Usual size, same drab color, nothing too special. It was the words on it that were important. It read: Rapunzel, the most wonderful thing that happened. And underneath those words it had a quote. It read: If you could, would you ask for moon beams in a heart of glass? For sun rays on the silver sea? Or would you ask for me?

Now, the people would wonder about how this girl had affected Jack's life so much.

Finally, two girls, sisters, were brave enough to ask him about why he came. His response was not as expected. "I come because I love her...loved her. But I have life advice for you.. When you find the right person, the one, love 'em. Don't hurt him, don't waste any time when it comes to him, because you never know...you never know when that special someone will be taken from you. Don't let anything hold you back because regret could be worse than any heartbreak that might happen. You hear?" he said. The older sister could tell that Jack was doing his best not to cry from the way his voice cracked and how he kept blinking.

"Yes, sir," she said, giving Jack a hug. It was unexpected, but not unwelcome. Her younger sister joined the hug, too, even though she wasn't completely sure what was going on.

Jack composed himself, clearing his throat a few times and such."Now you better be off with your parents, right?"

The older sister spoke up. "Our parents aren't here."

"Aren't here as in not at the cemetery?"

"They're in heaven," said the younger sister solemnly. "We live at the orphanage over there," she said, pointing across the street.

"Oh," Jack said, his heart going out to these young girls. "How about we sit down and I'll tell you a story."

The girls sat down, eager for a good story. The lady at the orphanage never told good stories, just told them things that made them sad and all the other kids there sad.

"I'm going to tell you a story about a girl..."

**...**

**AN-The quote on Rapunzel's grave is from the book Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. It's an amazing book and full of feels and stuff...I definitely recommend it. Oh yeah, I don't own Disney or Dreamworks, so there's that. So, um, yeah, thanks for reading! :D**


End file.
